Maternal Adherence to Healthy Lifestyle and Risk of Depressive Symptoms in the Offspring: Mediation by Offspring Lifestyle

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chavarro JE ; Ding M ; Schernhammer E ; Strohmaier S ; Sun Q ; Tiemeier H ; Wang W-C
• Description:
  Background: Adherence to healthy lifestyles can be beneficial for depression among adults, but the intergenerational impact of maternal healthy lifestyles on offspring depressive symptoms is unknown. Methods: In total, 10 368 mothers in Nurses' Health Study II and 13 478 offspring in the Growing Up Today Study were paired. Maternal and offspring healthy lifestyles were defined as a composite score including a healthy diet, normal body mass index (BMI), never-smoking, light-to-moderate consumption of alcohol, and regular moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Maternal lifestyles were assessed during their offspring's childhood. Offspring depressive symptoms were repeatedly assessed five times using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-10 (CESD-10); the offspring were between the ages of 14 and 30 when the first CESD-10 was assessed. Covariates included maternal variables (age at baseline, race/ethnicity, antidepressant use, pregnancy complications, etc.) and offspring age and sex. Results: Children of mothers with the healthiest lifestyle had significantly fewer depressive symptoms (a 0.30 lower CESD-10 score, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.09-0.50) in comparison with children of mothers with the least healthy lifestyle. The association was only found significant in female offspring but not in males. For individual maternal lifestyle factors, a normal BMI, never-smoking, and adherence to regular physical activity were independently associated with fewer depressive symptoms among the offspring. The association between maternal healthy lifestyles and offspring depressive symptoms was mediated by offspring's healthy lifestyles (mediation effect: 53.2%, 95% CI 15.8-87.3). Conclusions: Our finding indicates the potential mechanism of intergenerational transmission of healthy lifestyles to reduce the risk of depressive symptoms in offspring. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Health Personnel Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Activity Levels Author Keywords: Depressive Symptoms BMI Body Mass Index Children Healthy Lifestyle Mental Health Mother-child Pairs Nurses
• ISSN:
  0033-2917
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  53
• Issue:
  13
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068608
• Citation:
  Psychol Med 2023 Oct; 53(13):6068-6076
• Contact Point Address:
  Henning Tiemeier, Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA
• Email:
  tiemeier@hsph.harvard.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20100801
• Source Full Name:
  Psychological Medicine
• End Date:
  20190831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0f322a7203d5a9678054d36d00a1cbf318be6d881f14087426e69a22ff3621601bd4a28d296a9943ab350c8fdf9e6f37c3f914e0a1a4aa0ac75e34855044c607
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207212/cdc_207212_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 197.62 KB ]